As the weeks drag on without a kitchen, I’m starting to loose it a little. Our project was delayed in an unforeseen scheduling conflict with one of our professionals and our finish date is two months in the future…..sigh. But when it’s all said and done it will be worth it.
Part of holding it together, is making sure my family still eats while sticking to our tiny food budget, which DH lovingly raised to $500 a month (for the 8 of us) at least while our kitchen project drags on. This allows me to buy a few more convenience items to make meal prep in our alternative kitchen space a little easier.
“If only I had a bunch of cooked up ground beef in the freezer!” I thought to myself last week. That would make life so much better. So I did a search on all the ways to cook large batches of ground beef–only I don’t have a stove, so it can’t use a wok, lol.
Finally I decided to try it in the slow cooker. And it worked, beautifully–though until the very end I was sure I had wasted 6 lbs of meat. Here’s how it played out.
I unwrapped three 2 lb logs of frozen ground beef and stuck them into the slow cooker. Then I added 6 cups of water, because I wanted beef broth. To make the broth and hamburger taste good, I added 2 finely chopped onions; 1 Tbs of salt; 1 tsp of garlic salt; and 1/2 tsp black pepper.
The lid wouldn’t close. No worries. I covered it as well as I could and cooked in on low overnight. After about an hour, I could push the lid down. That made me feel better.
In the morning I had 3 logs of cooked hamburger–oh no! I was hoping for it to form crumbles automatically while I slept. But the broth looked delicious.
I chopped up the meat into huge chunks and then used a colander and bowl system to drain out the broth.
It had great color and smelled amazing. I was surprised what little fat hardened on the top after it cooled. This was grass fed beef direct from the farmer. I could see the quality when cooked this way.
I was pretty sure at this point that it was all a waste. But I decided to try the two fork shred method that I use on my pulled pork. I ended up mashing it with the back of a huge fork. It worked beautifully–and fast. Perfect fine crumbles of ground beef!
I divided up the meat into 5 freezer bags. Each one weighed about 1.4 lbs. And pressed them flat. Once they were cool, I put them in the freezer.
I got about 2 quarts of broth also. It smells and looks so yummy. I’m definitely doing this again. No more thawing meat, no more standing over a hot stove. Win win win.
You are a genius with a slow-cooker! Doing this!
Wow, that’s a great idea! I love that you get broth out of it too.
We had the remodel from hell. It was supposed to be 3-4 months tops. We went 11mths without a kitchen and hubby had to install the appliances. He went to our church and we had to go to arbitration for him to make it right and its still not finished all these yrs later. 1999 – 2013. Hes out of business for sure.
We used the microwave and the BBQ to cook on. It was just the 2 of us so thats how we lived….cleaning out of the bathtub. So it can be worse! =)
Pati, that’s terrible! I had to use my bathtub last remodel–I am so grateful to have an alternative sink–with a garbage disposal. Even if I can’t stand up all the way, lol.
This is a beautiful thing! What a fabulous idea! Win! Win! Win! For this mom of 8
there is so much conflicting info on thawing and cooking frozen meat, it can be overwhelming to try to do the right thing… This would be a huge time savings for everyone! Do you have luck with other frozen meats in the crockpot? I have issues with planning ahead…
I’m like you, J. I have trouble planning ahead too. I almost always cook my meat frozen and usually just add an extra hour to the crock pot cook time–though usually it doesn’t matter.
Angela,
A hand held potato masher works miracles at breaking up meat when bulk cooking beef. It’s much more efficient and easier on the hands than forks. Give it a try!
Good idea, Amy! Min is in storage, but I think I’ll try to find it.
Awesome. Bought some meat just to do this.thanks for the idea.
This is great to know. Saving this idea. 🙂
I was aghast when I saw the logs of beef but thankfully continued reading to see that you indeed did not buy them at a store since as you probably know may be from as many as 1000 cows in a roll. Yes local and grass fed is the way…….. I wish we had the same option here but alas the few local farmers we have for beef will not sell it in anything but 1 lb packages at quite high cost. Keep up your spirits. There is a light at the end of the tunnel…… and a pretty one too I imagine!!
Angela one of my favorite meals for family is Hash.. I use ground turkey instead of hamburger ,but either works. Its so simple,, Salt and pepper galrlic powder,
onion if you like, Add chopped up potatoes and a large can of cream of mushroom soup and a little milk.. Cook it 30 minutes or a crock pot would work alos.. Its so simple but everyone loves it !
great idea! I live in KC too. Looking for grass fed beef at good price. I’m still buying organic ground beef at Costco. Wondering if you are getting it somewhere less expensive?
Krista, My father-in-law is a beef farmer, so we have an unfair advantage. He does sell to individuals by the cow. He delivers the cow to the butcher in Amity, MO (you pay for the animal based on current auction prices) and then you would make arrangements with the butcher and pay his fees. Then pick it up (have lots of coolers handy.) It is less expensive than market meat and higher quality. Usually 2-3 families go together on one cow. (One cow fed Darren and I and our growing family from our marriage date for 4 years.)
Sometimes, I omit the 1lb of beef meat in the broth (you’ll see I’ve made it optional) – as I’ve found that as long as I have good bones, the broth will have enough flavor to not need the extra beef meat.
Interesting! I just bought 15 pounds of ground beef to cook for my freezer meal swap. I’m doing tacos and have a mixture for the seasoning. I wonder if I can do it this way and mix the seasoning in with the water and pour it over? Also, I didn’t buy it in the logs so it would be sitting in the water. Think all of that sounds okay? It would be AMAZING to let it cook overnight and not having to be over the stove cooking 15 lbs of meat!!!
Thank you, Angela. I tried this with 2 k of gr beef that I bought yesterday. We live in a foreign country, so our sources of meat are much healthier. I cooked it in the crockpot for about 8-9 hours on low, but the meat turned out still slightly pink. Do you think it is fully cooked & ok to eat?
Wenlov, I think it is ok. Are the juices clear or red? Juices are clear when the meat is done–still red when it’s underdone. Also checking the temperature of the meat will let you know.
I’m trying this today, Angela! Thanks for posting! It will be so much easier to cook 5 lbs of ground beef like this.
Yay! I love how hands off it is. Throw it in the pot and go get something else done.